How to Build Great Soil - A Soil Science Masterclass with Dr. Elaine Ingham (Part 2 of 4)

Dr. Elaine Ingham presents her soil science for beginners masterclass. She covers what the soil food web is, how plants benefit from a healthy soil food web, and how you can change the food web in the soil for your benefit.
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[@logantauson789]

why are we not learning this in elementary schools? thank you for taking the time great information and great teacher

[@michaelschwartz812]

Ask the Rockefellers

[@ctsod641]

They don't what us To be self sustaining.

[@prettypothos4me290]

Focus is on dividing us and rewriting history

[@albandrejaj]

Because they are to busy teaching white kids they are racists.

[@DreidMusicalX]

Because its more important for you to know how many genders there are in the world.

[@Littleking1985]

This stuff really works one spot of my garden had a ph of 5 to 5.5 I added compost tea and covered the ground with oak leaves 2 weeks later the ph was at 7. My soil still needs a lot of work but at least I'm trying to head in the right direction. I believe in a creator so I believe everything has its purpose and its up to use to figure it out and be good stewards of nature and life on this planet

[@Xriceboy3000]

Man, I just cleared a very small food plant from all the Oakland, and saw this video and comment gonna give this a try

[@deltalima6703]

I bought myself a couple of microscopes and gave Elaines ideas a shot. They truly work, beyond belief actually. Bumper crops every year, and soil is doing amazing, with its own constantly thriving ecosystem. The plants are just an extension of the ecosystem they are a part of.

[@GreenIsTheWayForward]

What do you use to determine which species you are looking at? And what the ratios should be between various species?

[@deltalima6703]

@@GreenIsTheWayForward A very difficult question. I started out organising critters into some very basic groups, nematodes, fungi, microarthropods, etc. This wasnt good enough to sort "bad guys" from "good guys" so I looked a little closer. The mouthparts on the nematodes sorted them out good enough. Then I found that the protozoa were tough to sort. I ended up doing up an evolutionary chart of all of the ones I was interested in, adl et. al did a paper that lists all of them sorted by taxonomy that was a good starting point. Took me a few months and I learned a lot about thier interactions and was able to identify them more or less afterwords, usually not right to species level but being accurate is more important than being specific. Watched a lot of videos of rotifers doing stuff, and various ciliates going about thier day. I also made a photographic library of the various critters, sorted phylogenetically, for myself, out of pictures stolen from the internet. All of this is a bit of a rabbit hole, and certainly not necessary, I doubt Elaine would recommend going this far with it. Pretty much you cant see whats going on without the microscope, but you can tell an awful lot if you pay attention to what the plants themselves are telling you. Then once you get the microscope and get a feel for what is going on those ecosystems you can make way more intelligent decisions on what to do and what not to do. Its amazing to spot a wild colpodea, but really its much more useful to know that there are aerobic ciliates in here, and dumping nasty chemicals on them isnt very smart. As for ratios, I really dont know, I am still learning.

[@GreenIsTheWayForward]

@@deltalima6703 Thanks for the in-depth answer, seems like quite a rabbit hole indeed! But it sounds like eventually you got a much better understanding of what's going on in your soil, and addressing the root of any problems seems like a much better way of dealing with them than just treating symptoms. I think I'll go and look for a microscope sometime soon :P

[@davemccormickmusic]

@@deltalima6703 hey delta lima....good informative answer.... what is the make and model of the telescopes she recommends?

[@kricketkitty]

Which microscope? Link?

[@1timbarrett]

Thanks for posting all four lectures in this mini-series. 🙏

[@prettypothos4me290]

Backyard gardener here enjoying this series. Thank you! Using the cardboard and mulch sandwich method to add new gardens for next spring. Last year it was sensational and the plantings were awesome!

[@trademarkchadandsilkyjohns3176]

I am so fascinated by this lady. She’s an amazing teacher in all honesty. She just makes it make sense to me more than anyone lol Peace to Mrs.Ingram

[@taksojdet]

She knows what she's talking about ❤️🙏🌿 #savesoil

[@yingcole6466]

This is awesome!! Thank you Diego for posting it. I'm in love, she is so cool! I feel like I'm a kindergarten pupil looking at my beautiful teacher with all the admiration a little girl can have and saying to myself, wow I wish I could be her 😄😄

[@infiniterootspottery5935]

She is such a great teacher!!!

[@Rkdawla]

From North East India, Mizoram, I am so grateful of Dr. Elaine's lecture.

[@kennypridemore5466]

This was awesome !!! Thank you so much !

[@kirkusarelius3365]

Just what I was looking for. Thank You Diego for posting

[@claytonlance235]

Love you Elaine! You changed my life 1 year ago. I plan on taking your soil course someday! ... love you too Diego! Haha

[@TheAdhdGardener]

Whoa glad I found your channel! Thank you for the info much appreciated 🌻

[@victorb5]

Thank you so much for sharing these!

[@alwyzDTF]

"God only knows...and gods not talkin" amen to that.

[@lindareese4579]

Thank you for sharing this...

[@kellymcgowan3547]

Brilliant.

[@florencetomi2223]

I want to thank you for the sea of knowledge you are dishing out_ Tomi from Nigeria.

[@davidhickenbottom6574]

Problems are never gone away. You mean we can fix something and never look back.

[@TeacherMom80]

WOW. 😃 Thank you SO much. You are a Godsend! 💖🙏🏽🕊️

[@lamaccaholmestv]

wonderful

[@YankeeysRule319]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a microscope and a guide or resources for what I am looking at? Internet articles or further reading material? Beginner here but I like using math to solve problems so I really do want to optimize my soil for the particular plant I'm growing.

[@Cucumber-red]

This should be taught in school !!!!

[@georgelee9099]

Your soil is your legacy. Take care

[@rehannon9864]

I have started to follow your output ,and now understand. I appreciate your intelligence. I have been growing a botanical garden. Now i have more depth on the subject. Thank you.

[@pyrorc]

It's official I love this woman

[@michelranger2285]

👍🏼,we should of have these kind of infornation in high schools ,very interesting thank you !!!❤🙂👍🏼

[@catfunksfabulousfinds]

I Love it! "A great way to put yourself asleep at night".

[@presterjohn1697]

Ingham is the Michael Jordan of Soil Science

[@CraigCampbell-lb9jv]

Thank you for publishing this content on youtube❤ You rock, if you were water, you'd be 800tds😂

[@FungiFrenzy]

Thank you Dr. for your wonderful lecture, this is a life changing information. I have a question pls, how much vermicompost does plants need and how frequent should it be applied?

[@stevelux9854]

They can not tell you. Only your soil can tell you how much and how often.

[@skylovecraft2491]

I love that Sadhguru has a Save Soil initiative. He has many great KZbin videos on it and we should all watch them and care. We all need to work at saving the quality of soil and making it more biodiverse. #SaveSoil Share and spread the word please!!

[@B01]

He works with the soil food web school, I swear Ive seen him featured in some of their vids

[@cenknight]

I dont think he has credentials comparable to Dr. Elaine Ingham; is he not a cult leader?

[@philipbeasley8079]

Can you advise of the microscope make and model that Elaine recommends. Detail is not shown on this video. Thankyou

[@deltalima6703]

1000x or less, you will only need the 10x objective 10x eyepiece for 100x for the vast majority of observations. 630x is interesting but honestly the working distance is too small on it. Decent light source, LED typically, adjustable condenser, movable filter rack. Mechanical stage (not clips), 160mm optics preferred, infinity optics works too but is more expensive. Olympus, leica, nikon, zeiss great, but honestly amscope, premiere, etc is a lot less expensive and just as good. Microbehunters channel is a good source of information.

[@philipbeasley8079]

Thankyou Delta Lima for your detailed response. Much appreciated.

[@MadCheshireHat]

This has certainly given me things to think about, but I'm trying to figure out how to fill a raised bed: what kind of soil is best, is it worth buying from the garden center or making my own mix, what nutrients and amendments to buy, etc. That's very different than the soil you have on the ground like she's talking about.

[@margaritasaja40]

Gardening gets too expensive if you have to buy everything. I get free soil from my town and then add my own compost and plant mushrooms to bring it back to life. Sometimes on Craigslist people give away topsoil also

[@jhenson5168]

So quick question. If my tomatoes are getting fusarium wilt in my main field. Could I assume then that I have an excess of "bad fungi"? Too much anaerobic matter in the soil?

[@xikano8573]

I'd say Dr Elaine is ready for her own Netflix comedy special! 😂

[@russellradwanski5771]

First! Also, when are you going to post an updated compost video from one of your many experiments?? I haven’t had my Diego Compost/soils video fix in soooo long!

[@DiegoFooter]

Over the winter. :)

[@russellradwanski5771]

@@DiegoFooter What sort of model you thinking? Short but daily/weekly update videos? Or infrequent but more more in depth videos? Or…frequent in-depth

[@robertreznik9330]

Dr Ingham, I have a half section that I would like the SOM to go from 1.5% in top 9" of soil to 1.75%. When I bought it 16 years ago the OM was less than 1.5% and unable to produce a crop. The other half was also taken out of pasture 100 years ago and never fertilized. The crops are grazed with very limited crops that collect failed crop insurance. On mine, I started applying N P S and Zn to produce good crops. I grow No till wheat and grain sorghum average rain fall is 17". That 9" of soil weighs 3 million lbs per acre. 1/4 % SOM is 7,500 lbs. If the SOM Nitrogen addition is 750 lbs/ac where can this extra come from that added OM ? On a half section the soil will need 1/4 million lbs of N in the added SOM. What can I do to stop buying expensive fertilizer and continue making crops?

[@Uncommon5en5e]

She makes me think of a fictional sister of Hawkeye Pierce in M.A.S.H. She would be smarter than him and beat him in battles of wit. One of the few people I'd give a big bear hug for sure!!! Great teachers and curious minds like hers must be treasured and kept forever

[@charleskurniawan2950]

So anaerobes Lactobacillus is bad for the soil? I read many article about LB serums are good for plants..

[@gecko5871]

Some paper said 6 inch below soil is anaerobic. Is it really aerobic or unarerobic?

[@alexisalvarez9629]

Dude she is the best she’s hilarious

[@nnbaggz2511]

It would help out more visually if when she’s pointing at something on the slide that we can’t see, there’s an edit showing what she’s pointing at so we can better visualize what she’s talking about versus just guessing

[@murtaghslawncare.]

Should we be using him mic acid on our lawns

[@angelgarcia4848]

Is there recommended good introductory permaculture book? Maybe the one she teaches with? Her lecture really opened my eyes and I want to educate myself more.

[@arwilson529]

Gaias garden by Toby hemmingway is a great start

[@justinthegreenhouse8908]

Why isn't this information more widely spread. Let's start saving our planet instead of killing it with pesticides.

[@stevelux9854]

Because big corporations make hundreds of Billion$ from us if we do it their way. Secondly: there isn't enough animal manure for everyone's crops.

[@andreabelli6589]

@@stevelux9854 we don't need animal manure, we just need to cover soil with mulch, plant and let nature do the work. Remember Ruth Stout lesson.

[@teresaprice5070]

For additional great info on that question, watch Gabe Brown's YT videos, "Regenerative Farming as an Ecosystem, Parts 1 through 5! Fabulous! Also, documentary on Netflix, "Kiss the Ground." Wow!

[@sukursukur3617]

As far as i understand. Soil should be separated from outer effects. And it should be leaven with a true compost. What do you think about farming(tree) with big bag sacks? It provides aeorobic environment, highly capablity of drainage, fully invader protection, no root tangling and capability of mobility. What do you think?

[@junkremovers5825]

Unfortunately I don't think the website she mentioned is up and running anymore, atleast under the name she suggested, i typed in what i heard but unfortunately without seeing the slides she presented I'm not able to find what microscope she has suggested. So wanting to get active with the slides, if anyone can help me to clarify what microscope she is mentioning here with a possible link address i would be so thankful and appreciative to that information. Thankyou!

[@Robert-vh2cl]

I haven’t watched the video yet so not sure what Dr. Ingham said about microscopes so she might have said this already, but what you are looking for is a shadowing microscope and not a bright field microscope. As far as brands are concerned, Omax is a very popular microscope. They have many to choose from, depending on how much you want to spend. Generally speaking, the higher quality (clearer) optics and general quality of the microscope will determine its cost. So it’s hard to recommend a specific model since that will depend on how much you are willing to spend. I will be getting one soon, still doing research. Good luck! 😊

[@susantillander2080]

So, is growing kale bad for my soil?

[@BrunyeeSalers]

Brilliant- wished that I started yesterday and not tomorrow!

[@sofisofiver2801]

Hello, Madam, I want to ask you. I am from Algeria. I made compost and gave it everything I learned. After 3 months, it became black in color and smelled like dirt mixed with rain. I planted seeds in the compost alone, but the seeds did not flower. They told me that only compost does not sprout plants in it, and they advised me to mix it with the dirt, and I did that, but Likewise, you did not grow knowing thatThe seeds are coriander. What is the problem? Please answer. Thank you

[@DeyvsonMoutinhoCaliman]

Anaerobic does work, though, if you are on a budget and want a quick fertilizer, better than nothing in a bad soil.

[@gosnelljames]

Anyone have a good book recommendation on what is covered in these videos?

[@robmitchke8034]

Teaming with Microbes. Or Matt Power's books.

[@gtavtheavengergunnerlegend3340]

Listen to this women and you'll succeed

[@xj11w2c7]

Is there a link to the microscope she's mentioning?

[@TuNguyen-yp1hm]

maybe this kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYSviKtjqsSVZ6s

[@alfonsolopez702]

Just started watching this but I’m confused what video goes 1st and 2nd ….

[@joejo7698]

#savesoil

[@homebuildersllcdesignbuild3664]

Same concept with ponds

[@epigeneticnerd4244]

When I go to the website she mentions for the microscope nothing comes up!

[@B0oSe0six]

Same

[@sukursukur3617]

Are nematodes beneficial or harmful? The answer may be most of them are beneficial or harmful? I have a book, it writes nematodes are harmful for roots. Websites also says that

[@Unbestochen]

defenders use only 5 ml per gallon

[@Norbingel]

Dr Ingham talks about unaerobic being a "stupid idea". However, as I understand it, JADAM uses an unaerobic tea of some kind. And it seems to work going by the testimonies of a lot of people. Thoughts, anyone?

[@slapster69]

Lots of methods that aren’t sustainable will work for awhile. She’s talking about building a sustainable circle of life that gets better over time, and is not practical to do inside or in pots. For example I grow tomato’s in a patch of land that has been optimized with organic matter for over 50 years. It has a strategically placed butterfly garden and a bird attracting tree. You can dig enough worms to go fishing in 5 minutes. My neighbors use every fertilizer in the world and can’t catch me and I don’t spend a dime on fertilizer, other than a handful of lime in each tomato hole. It’s all about creating an optimal living environment, which isn’t something you can buy at the store. Myco+ can help you get started creating the mycorrhizae

[@donpage2161]

We have only dug down 5.6 miles deep. Like our ignorance with the protozoa and nematodes being present in the soil....we have NO idea what is 16 miles deep.

[@e5musicteacher670]

As a religious Christian, I just wanna say how much I appreciate this woman and the knowledge she brings to the world. Thank you!!!

[@flofi4397]

Summary for at home: Don't do too much Mulch Compost Diversity in plants Let nature do what it wants, put your tomatoes in between

[@trinsit]

I can't buy the $300 microscope. I NEED the epifluorescence filter. I'm still in the gathering material to make infrastructure. Building compost cages of my own design.

[@flofi4397]

I am a gardening fan and pro mulch etc, but! Desert to oasis in one year without extra watering is just impossible. Still good

[@granttheplantman1370]

Lotta people bury their crap (humanure?) In soil.. anaerobic conditions.. so crapping on the surface & covering it in mulch is better?

[@RefugeeOfReality]

Great lecture!! Even though... God IS talking! But it is up to us to open our ears and eyes to witness and understand what he is saying! Greetings and Blessings 🙌🏻 All of you are doing the great work!

[@chriskennedy7534]

Which man made god ? We have hundreds to choose from Trust in science instead

[@Unbestochen]

@@chriskennedy7534 everything talkin about god in the bibel you can mentioned one on one to you.

[@brianfitch5469]

Where is she getting 16 miles from? Oil Wells don't drill 16 miles down. The deepest hole was drilled by the Russians and is almost 9 basically can say 9 miles deep and then there drill bits started melting and tempatures over 2000 degrees were recorded. The deepest layer worldwide organic material or fossils have been found is 3 miles down.

[@stinesvendsen7434]

For some people 1 mile is 1,6km and for others in the world it is 12km. So how far is your miles in km? ;)

[@RootsOfEden911]

"Do roots go 16miles down?" - No, unless it's kudzoo.

[@jackday7232]

How the hell is her Lapel mic picking up every single audience member coughing.

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

"good guy, bad guy" I disagree with that mindset. Nature works in an equilibrium. Eliminate the so called "bad guys" and you'll have problems!

[@agratefuldread1949]

Too much good is bad! Viva JADAM!

[@ABplusOriginal]

Up, down, left, right, in, out

[@rsalehi6568]

I think the distinction she is making is aerobic vs anaerobic microorganisms; good vs bad is just a simple linguistic substitution for that. For optimal plant cultivation, you need mostly aerobic ecosystem.

[@ABplusOriginal]

@@rsalehi6568 I'm listening to a presentation now also born and raised on a farm....like everything in life we need BALANCE when one gets outta control the other puts it back no too more of one species dominating unless the plant requires such an at that point the plant sequesters what it wants when it wants.🙏🏿

[@stevelux9854]

Think of the "bad guys" simply as markers or indicators of the soil being in distress. In that case they are helpful in this particular way.

[@mrwhite2039]

She claimed that sand goes 16 miles yet the deepest hole is only 8 miles.

[@stevelux9854]

28:00 Oh, God is talking. It's just that like any onry child we don't usually listen, especially when we have been repeatedly taught and are used to the easy ways to do things. Of course the majority of us aren't even aware of how to listen to God and His nature. Funny thing is; this is exacly one of the ways that you are teaching here: pay attention to root causes (pun intended) and pay attention to what the soil and the life within it actually needs. This is also His lesson for us as humans.

[@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb]

As much as I like her message, her logic simply doesn't make internal sense. She says it's humans who've screwed up the soil. Alright, but humans have only been on the planet a very short time (~2M years) and only farmed for about 10,000 years (and only industrially-farmed for about 150 years). She then says every bit of dirt has 'hundreds' of years of plant nutrients just waiting to be consumed. So the question becomes, why is that? There have been hundreds of millions of years of plant life (~500M) undisturbed by humans. If her claims were valid, all soil would have long-ago been lifeless as plants would have consumed every nutrient hundreds of millions of years ago. So as much as I like her arguments, soil science is obviously much more complex than she's suggesting. I'd love to be proven wrong. I'm sure farmers would fall all over themselves not having to to buy fertilizers/pesticides if it were possible to do what she says. Instead, it's just a tiny fringe of farmers who do this. Why, if what she says is so simple, hasn't there been a stampede towards her methods? Are farmers that stupid? I really doubt it.

[@wmpx34]

I presume it’s because what she describing takes more effort, and effort costs money. Maybe that money is greater than buying a bunch of chemical fertilizers.

[@slapster69]

You missed the entire point. When you build a life cycle in your soil the nutrients never run out. I know farmers who use this technique. It’s pretty much only affordable if you have multiple pastures (at least 4) that you can rotate between growing crops, not growing crops, growing wild plants, used for animal feed. And to pull this off you pretty much need an animal farm that backs to another landowner who needs a tax break so allows the animal farmer to graze the pastures for free. Also, to say modern farmers aren’t flocking to this technique is simply wrong. For example if you pay close attention you’ll notice crop rotation, cover crops, and in depth knowledge of mycorrhizae. But you’ll also see profit optimization, needs to remain competitive give rules and restrictions, weather issues, and most importantly money issues that lead to cutting corners to save todays soil by sacrificing tomorrows soil. Just look at the dust bowl for a perfect example of farmers shooting themselves in the foot.

[@richardbellsr2345]

Oh God is talking, unfortunately people aren't listening.

[@TileBitan]

good but i think it's very wrong to promote businesses in class (the microscope thing). It really tarnishes a really good presentation

[@xavierdiazmcguire4667]

The planet is screwed because nobody cares enough

[@xavierdiazmcguire4667]

Remember though, we need nature. Nature doesn't need us

[@arronlloyd5607]

Your impression of David Attenborough was terrible, not to mention rude.

[@pyrorc]

:p